Search form

A Modest Proposal to Protect Newspaper Jobs

Gannett announced this week that it will eliminate more than 1,000 positions among its 85 daily newspapers and 900 non-dailies. The reason for the layoffs has become all too familiar — declining readership and advertising sales, primarily because of lower-cost competition from the Internet.

I’m waiting for a member of Congress to issue the following news release:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15—Rep. John Smith today announced his opposition to the loss of jobs at Gannett and other newspaper companies and demanded that Congress and the president rethink their commitment to “so-called free domestic trade.”

“The loss of thousands of decent, good-paying middle-class union jobs will be devastating to my district and to communities across America,” Rep. Smith announced. “Our misguided domestic trade policies have exposed vital industries to unfair competition. Our newspapers, record shops, and book stores must not be forced to compete against dumped services sold at predatory prices.”

Rep. Smith blamed growing use of the Internet since 1994 for stagnant real wages, a shrinking middle class, falling home prices, and rising levels of crime, alcoholism, and divorce in America’s newsrooms.

Rep. Smith rejected what he called “academic theories about competition, comparative advantage, technological progress, and productivity gains.” He also denounced supposed evidence that the Internet has brought benefits to millions of workers and consumers as “mere statistics.”

As Rep. Smith told cheering constituents at a recent debate, “Look, people don’t want cheaper news and information if they’re losing a job in the process. They would rather have the job and pay a little bit more for their news. And I think that’s something that all Americans could agree to.”

Rep. Smith demanded that the president and Congress embrace an immediate “time out” on all new technologies and web sites until domestic trade policies “can be made to work for all Americans.” He demanded more vigorous enforcement of domestic antidumping rules and an additional $1 billion in the FY2008 budget to expand Technology Adjustment Assistance (TAA) programs.